There will be a new category for global resilience at this year’s staging of the World Travel Awards (WTA).

The organisers of the awards have announced the creation of a special Global Resilience Award.

WTA Managing Director Justin Cooke, who made the disclosure, explained that an overall new set of awards for the WTA resilience programmes will be added, noting “we believe that by shining a light on those, who are resetting the bar and leading the way in building resilience, we can play a small role in building a sustainable future for all.

Cooke was addressing the recently ended three-day Global Tourism Resilience Conference at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters in St Andrew.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who also spoke at the event, welcomed the announcement as “perhaps the greatest statement of support that the resilience movement could have… . To have resilience included in the list of awards that will be provided for destinations and countries across the world is really a very humbling but satisfying development”.

The minister acknowledged that the WTA has an outstanding history of performance and global notoriety in “every important centre of the world” tourism is featured.

Established in 1993, the World Travel Awards acknowledges, rewards and celebrates excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.